A long weekend of 24,25 and 26th Jan gave the masses an opportunity to break free from their routines, so did we and covered many places to our liking as mentioned bellow.
PratapGad
Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and KashiVishveshwar Temple
Ajinkyatara Fort
SajjanGad
KalyanGad aka Nandgiri Fort
Kedareshwar Temple
VardhanGad
Jejuri
The Journey…
The day I returned from Goa Trip, I was all ready to go for a long 3 day trek. Though it wasnt a full fledged trek, we had hired a Tavera and targetted Satara region. After unpacking my Goa Bag, I put in few more clothes and the snacks that Tatya had asked me to bring. Around 12.15 am I joined in at the Mankhurd Junction at Ghatkopar. The first destinantion was decided to be PratapGad fort near Mahabaleshwar. The night drive via the Mumbai Goa road with old romantic tracks was relaxing… The Funny part being!! I was going to Mumbai from the same route the earlier night, and the next very night around the same time I was again on the same route!!
PratapGad
We reached Paratapgad around 5am, but the doors of the fort were still closed and had to wait till some1 opened it… It was about to be sunrise and the doors were opened, as soon as this happened we rushed to capture sunrise. After capturing too many sunrise pics, We rushed to see the fort…. Pratapgadh provided a lot of protographic opportunities. After some sight seeing, a lite breakfast, little planning as of where to go next and dabba session, We started our journey towards Wai where we were supposed to trek up PandavGad, which is now privately owned by Mapro. We could see Pandavgad while driving down the ghat towards Wai… looking at the height and gradient, it didnt not appeared to be a quickie that we were looking for on this journey.
Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and KashiVishveshwar Temple
We reached Wai and started finding a way to reach the base of Pandavgad. While in process we switched the plan and decided to find an accomadation since it was eident that we would have to stay back at Wai for the night if we trekked Pandavgadh. We decided to think over it while having lunch. After enquiring a bit about the accomadation rates, we went in the Temple preemises, the well known Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and the adjoining Kashivishweshwar temple were a beauty. The temple is ancient and beautifully built. But the bhookads that we are, we quickly entered hotel “MahaGanpati” which served really delicious lunch. Rohit was as happy as getting a treasure after having lunch and so were we. Here we switched to another plan, where we could not only save the accomodation funds, but could also see some more places instead of a single Pandavgadh. Here was the new plan, according to which we had to head to Ajinkyatara Fort in Satara and then to SajjanGadh where we could stay for the night.
Ajinkyatara Fort
A nice drive to Satara, enroute which we could see Chandan-Vandan which was on cards for next day; VairatGad, which was named as SujayGad since we didnot knew its name nor were sure if it was a fort unless we learnt about it from a book the next day, took us to Satara city. Ajinkyatara can be very well distinguished with the two doordarshan towers that it has overlooking the city of Satara. A motorale road takes you straight to the main door of Ajinkyatara. Ajinkyatara is wide spread but has very less remenants existing, except the Doors, fortifications, a temple and place where queen Tarabai stayed. We all almost lost in the beutifull sunset and sky colors at the dusk. Now this is what made Ajinkyatara more memorable for us… We unknowingly breeched the security of the Doordarshan premises and darely taking an exit of their main gate, while we were inturupted by the security who were trashing us with words. Initially they were not that harsh but the moment that they realised that the Tavera ( It had Mumbai DoorDarshan banner ) at the gate was ours, they fired us like hell…. By now I had realised what the problem was… They were in a missconception that some officials from Mumbai Doordarshan were on the fort and they had to tighten their belts which went in vain as their assumption was wrong. But the mistake was ours (mine, who was the first one to jump over the wall) so we had to say sorry for what happened. I was feeling like a fool since, few of us were really scared/hurt by what happened and I was feeling nothing about it.A quick exit from the fort and a drive in the dark took us to SajjanGad.
SajjanGad
From the car parking one has to climb up 250 stairs to reach the top, which is developed as Dharmaday of Samartha Ramdas Swami. The Dharmaday serves luch and dinner to the visitors and also provide an acomadation facility. Nice hot water to get fresh and a nice place to stay was provided to all visitors.A tasty Pitla-Bhat and Pickle was the menu of the night. The people who organsie the things there are pretty well organised and strict with the rules; I am sure that its the key to how they manage the large masses without much trouble. Some planning for the next day, enlisted that we could cover KalyanGad (Nandgiri), VardhanGad and MahimanGad while Jarandeshwar was on cards too. Each of these were quickies excpet Jarandeshwar. The next day morning we saw the more of Sajjangad and left for Kalyangad.
KalyanGad
Driving towards KalyanGad, we learnt that people know it more as Nandgiri rather than KalyanGad. Also people arent aware that it is a fort. We reached the base of Nandgiri and we could see steps that lead towards the top, but the steps are only in the begining and end of the hike near the main door. The intermediate way is an easy hike of about 40 minutes. The way is well marked and many people visit the fort for the Parshavnath Temple that it has. Enroute we also come across a small cave. Reaching the main door we realised that the stairs near the main door were built just few days earlier. Entering the door and moving straight, we could see a path/stairs leading downwards near a summit to a cave around 30 meters bellow. After entering the cave one has to walk/crouch for around 70 meters. The floor of the way stays wet and there is water filled on the left side. It is risky to enter this place in monsoons. At the end of the path we see Idols of Parshavnath, Datta and Devi. After praying and some photography we made a exit and returned towards main door. After drinking water provided by Guruji who looks after the temple, we proceeded for exploring rest of fort. Kalyangad can be distinguished fom surounding forts with the single huge Banyan tree it has atop. After resting for some time under the shade, we decided the further plan. Sipping herbal tea ( gavti chaha ) we had some talks with Guruji. We had enough of rest and proceeded to decend the fort. A surplus lunch at KalyanGad dhaba at the base of the fort and we were off towards VardhanGad. Enrotue we also visited Kedareshwar Temple at Koregaon.
VardhanGad
Around 5pm we reached the base of VardhanGad where two cannons welcomed us while entering the village. After some “soch vimash” we decided to hike up with our sacks so that we could stay atop. After a hike of about 20-25 mins we reached the main door of the fort. Proceeding from there, a small climb on the hump takes us to the VardhaniDevi Temple which is the best place to stay. It also has electricity connection, charging points and around 20 peaple can easily accomadate in the temple. Enroute we come across two small temples of Shiv and Hanumant; on the left side is a water cristen of potable water. Later it was all about some attempt to night photography and not to talk about the efforts towards cooking our meal for the night “Maggi Rice Noodles” which followed nice sleep. Early rise from sleep with loud bells rang by 2 villagers… Most of the villagers come daily for prayers to the temple. We immediatly proceeded to explore the fort. The fort still has its fortification in good condition. There are two more water cristens on the other side of the fort, one chor darwaja facing the present day highway and a “kabar” in the interior part of the fort. After Vardhangadh we headed towards Pusegaon to visit SevaMaharaj’s Mandir. Since it was “Somvaari Amvasya” crowds at all the temples was expected. From here we headed towards Jejuri, enroute we took a hault at Lonand where we visited SK’s home.
Jejuri
Reaching Jejuri we noticed that it was too crowded as it was one of the biggest fest at Jejuri. I was pretty excited to witness the festive mood here, which I had always been hearing about. After relaxing and having delicious Pohe at Sagar’s atyas place. We headed towards “Gad Jejuri”; the walk towards the main door was with the crowd, the whole premises of the temple was crowded with people ofering prayers and blowing turmeric powder and pieces of coconut as part of the tradition. All that could be seen had turned yellow with the the layers of turmeric powder and all that could be heard was, “Yelkot Yelkot Jay Malhar” and “Sadnanadacha Yelkot Yelkot” . The experience that we went through couldnot be explained in words…. It was great to be there and we were not in a hurry to leave from the place and skipped Malhargad which was on cards. Some photographic events and the festive mood made our day. A nice bath to wash off the turmeric over our body and we left for Mumbai.
A lot of unforgettable memories, peace of mind with the “trek cum devdarshan” made the most of the long weekend. Few things better be experienced rather than said or heard; yet just an effort to convey our experiences.